"What's wrong, kid? Is this all the strength you have? Come on, hit me."
After clashing for a while, Kisame had gradually adapted to Naruto's attacks.
Although he was inwardly surprised that Naruto was so strong without using the Nine-Tailed power, his own strength was also considerable, and Naruto's attacks couldn't do anything to him.
Since they couldn't affect him, wasn't it time to show off to his heart's content?
Looking at the smug Kisame, Naruto was speechless.
He hadn't expected the guy opposite him to be such a goofball.
Actually, it wasn't surprising that Kisame was acting this way; he was naturally easygoing and prone to just attacking whoever he wanted.
Yesterday, he had suffered quite a bit of 'humiliation' in front of Ge Liang, so now that he finally had a chance, he definitely wanted to 'enjoy' himself.
"...If I hit you with this punch, you might die."
Naruto decided he would use his full power in his normal state. Testing the waters could go to hell.
"Huh? Come on, come on. I'll stand right here and let you hit me once. Let's see how you kill me."
"You said that, so I won't hold back."
"I, Kisame, keep my word."
Seeing that Kisame had indeed opened his arms and abandoned his defense as promised, Naruto was overjoyed.
'Sinking his Qi into his Dantian' and 'Wielding power with Qi,' Naruto exerted all his strength and punched Kisame.
"Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill."
It turned out that during his fight with Kisame just now, Naruto had been holding back this move, hoping to find an opportunity to strike a sneaky blow. As it happened, Kisame voluntarily dropped his guard, so Naruto couldn't be blamed.
"This dangerous feeling..."
As an S-Rank Rogue Ninja, the shark-faced Kisame possessed beast-like intuition.
Seeing Naruto's fist, he knew he couldn't take the hit, or he would truly die.
Therefore, just as the punch was about to land, he... dodged.
"Boom!"
Because Kisame dodged, Naruto missed him and hit a massive tree behind him instead.
A loud crash sounded, and the huge tree struck by Naruto was instantly broken and knocked to the ground, causing Kisame to break out in a cold sweat.
"Hey, you're breaking your promise! You said you wouldn't dodge and would take my attack!"
Since he failed to hit Kisame this time, it would be even harder to attack him once Kisame was on guard, which made Naruto extremely dissatisfied.
He was slightly annoyed at his own naivety and also at Kisame's lack of trustworthiness.
'If I hadn't dodged, I would have been killed by you directly.'
Clearly, facing Naruto's full-power punch, even Kisame had to avoid the edge of the attack. Just look at the fate of that massive tree—if he had been hit, he would have been severely injured, if not killed.
"I never said I wouldn't dodge and would let you hit me once. Kid, you must have misheard."
For the sake of his reputation, Kisame decided to try tricking him first.
"Nonsense! There's no way I misheard."
However, standing before him was Uzumaki Naruto, the King of Talk-no-Jutsu from the original work. This level of 'Talk-no-Jutsu' was clearly insufficient to fool him.
Since trickery didn't work, he might as well just cheat.
"Who was talking to you just now?"
"Huh?"
Naruto was confused. There are only two of us here. Who else could it be besides you?
"I mean the name of the person who was talking to you."
"...Kisame Hoshigaki?"
Hearing Naruto say his name, Kisame Hoshigaki nodded approvingly and said, "What does that have to do with me?"
"Huh? Aren't you Kisame Hoshigaki?"
Naruto suddenly wondered if the person in front of him had been driven mad by him, as he was starting to talk nonsense.
"Shut up~"
At this moment, Kisame suddenly shouted, "Who told you my name is Kisame Hoshigaki? My name is clearly Hoshigaki Sameki..."
"Why should Hoshigaki Sameki take the blame for what Kisame Hoshigaki said..."
Naruto:...Damn it, I have never seen such a shameless person.
"You shameless bastard, take another one of my moves, Dragon Elephant Prajna Skill!"
"Go to hell! Only a fool would take your lousy Dragon Elephant Skill. I'm dodging!"
"If you dare, don't dodge!"
"If you dare, don't use this lousy skill!"
"If you don't dodge, I won't use it."
"If you don't use it, I won't dodge. Nya nya nya nya nya!"
"Damn it, you dare to make faces at me~ Go die, bastard!"
...The story splits into two paths, each following a different branch.
Compared to the 'joy' between Naruto and Kisame next door...
...the battle between Sasuke and Itachi was much more intense.
Itachi wanted to test how much Sasuke had grown.
Sasuke also wanted to test if he could defeat Itachi.
Thus, the battle between the two of them was extremely perilous.
In the Taijutsu competition, a difference of a hair's breadth meant injury if hit.
Sasuke had the assistance of his Flying Sword, allowing him to split his attention and engage in close combat while simultaneously using the Flying Sword.
As for Itachi, although Taijutsu was his weakness, with the perception afforded by his Three-Tomoe Sharingan, he was still able to evade Sasuke's attacks.
However, this method of evasion certainly couldn't last; the moment he relaxed even slightly, Sasuke would strike him.
After clashing intensely for about five minutes, Itachi decisively used Genjutsu to confuse Sasuke, thereby widening the distance between them.
Ordinary Genjutsu couldn't affect Sasuke, who also had his Sharingan activated; only Itachi's Genjutsu could make Sasuke fall for it.
Even when he fell for it, Sasuke managed to dispel it in just an instant.
In that single instant, Itachi had already jumped back, increasing the distance from Sasuke.
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique."
"Fire Release: Phoenix Sage Fire Technique."
"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique."
"Fire Release: Dragon Fire Technique."
After the Taijutsu clash, the next natural step was Ninjutsu.
With the perception provided by the Sharingan, no matter what either of them tried to do, the other could sense it immediately.
Therefore, Sasuke responded to Itachi's attacks with the exact same techniques.
Itachi's understanding of Ninjutsu might have been much higher than Sasuke's, but Sasuke was currently fighting without caring about consuming Chakra.
For a moment, the clash of their Ninjutsu techniques actually resulted in a stalemate.
"Sasuke, it seems you have indeed grown a lot."
Looking at Sasuke, who was only slightly breathless, and his single Three-Tomoe Sharingan, Itachi was quite satisfied with Sasuke's growth.
"Itachi, my teacher told me that there might be more to that incident."
That incident?
It was, of course, the Uchiha Clan massacre.
After thinking about it for all this time, Sasuke increasingly felt that the matter was strange, which is why he wanted to find Itachi and ask for clarification, rather than immediately using a powerful move to kill him.
"There is no hidden truth to this matter. It is true that I killed Father, Mother, and the rest of the clan."
Hearing this, Sasuke gritted his teeth. He refused to believe that there was absolutely no hidden truth to the matter.
The biggest flaw was that Konoha showed absolutely no reaction to such a massive incident.
Itachi was only thirteen years old at the time. Even if he was powerful, there couldn't have been absolutely no disturbance while he was killing his clansmen.